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David Cameron has promised that if he is Prime Minister after the 2015 election he would renegotiate a new settlement with Brussels, before staging an in-out referendum.

However pressure is mounting on the Premier to bring forward legislation sooner to firm up his commitment.

David Cameron is in Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama, but the trip has been overshadowed by questions over Tory splits back home over Europe

Some Tory MPs want a referendum before 2015, but their Lib Dem coalition partners are opposed.

On Wednesday up to 100 Conservative backbenchers are expected to back a motion criticising the Queen’s Speech for failing to commit to a referendum, in an unprecedented revolt.

Mr Cameron will miss the vote because he is on a visit to the United States.

Mr Johnson said he supported Mr Cameron’s plan, but added: ‘I personally back legislation now to make sure that referendum goes ahead.’

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In hisDaily Telegraphcolumn
he added: ‘If we left the EU, we would end this sterile debate, and we
would have to recognise that most of our problems are not caused by
“Bwussels”, but by chronic British short-termism, inadequate management,
sloth, low skills, a culture of easy gratification and under-investment
in both human and physical capital and infrastructure.’

Mr
Johnson said Mr Cameron will only be able to extract concession from
Brussels if there is a realistic prospect of Britain quitting
altogether.

'This
renegotiation can only work if we understand clearly what we want to
achieve: a pared-down relationship based on free trade and cooperation,'
he added.

'And our partners will only take us seriously if they think we will invoke Article 50, and pull out, if we fail to get what we want. If we are going to have any chance of success in the negotiations, we need to show that the UK is willing to walk away.'

However, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said Mr Cameron faced an 'issue of trust' over his commitment to overhaul Britain's relationship with Europe.

He said the Tories made a 'cast iron' promise top hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which had not happened.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the Tories face an 'issue of trust' over Europe

Mr Farage said: 'No parliament can bind its successor. Even if a piece of legislation was passed in this parliament to say there would be a referendum in the next parliament that has no force of law whatsoever.

'The real problem is that Mr Cameron made a promise a few years ago, he said ‘I give you this cast iron guarantee that if I become prime minister there’ll be a referendum on the Lisbon treaty’ and he didn’t deliver. The real problem that the Conservative party have got with him is an issue of trust, people really don’t believe he intends to deliver,' he told Sky News.

'This is merely an attempt to kick the issue into the long grass to neutralise the European question at the next general election and to try to get UKIP off the Conservative party’s back. It won’t work. I don’t want to wait for up to five years to have a referendum on something as fundamentally important as this.'

Senior Tory ministers upped the ante by calling saying they would back withdrawal if a referendum was held now.

Exit strategy: Education Secretary Michael Gove (left) and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond both said they would vote for Britain to leave Europe if there was a referendum tomorrow

Asked whether he thought Britain should leave the EU if there were a referendum today, Mr Gove told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Yes, I’m not happy with our position in the European Union. But my preference is for a change in Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

‘My ideal is what the majority of the British public’s ideal is, which is to recognise the current situation is no good, to say that life outside would be perfectly tolerable, we could contemplate it, there would be certain advantages.

'But the best deal for Europe, and for Britain, would be if Britain were to lead the change that Europe needs.’

‘My own view is, let the Prime Minister lay out our negotiating strategy, make sure he has a majority – which I am convinced he will secure at the next election – and let’s have the referendum then.'

After Mr Gove’s interview, Mr Hammond, asked on
the BBC’s Pienaar’s Politics radio programme whether he would vote to
leave the EU as things stand, replied: ‘Yes, because I believe that we
have to negotiate a better solution that works better for Britain if we
are going to stay in and play a part in the European Union in the
future.

‘But let me be absolutely clear: I think it is defeatist to sort of say we want to leave the European Union.

Today Tory MP Gavin Barwell, Mr Gove's parliamentary aide, said he would be voting for the amendment to the Queen's Speech expressing 'regret' at the absence of a referendum.

'I completely support the policy that was set out by the Prime Minister in January but what we need to do is to convince a sceptical electorate that we actually mean it,' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

'The electorate at the moment doesn't have a great deal of trust in politicians in general and many people feel they have been promised referenda in the past and they haven't happened.

'So this isn't an issue about Conservative MPs trusting David Cameron. It's about using the legislative process to convince the electorate that the clear commitment he gave in his speech is going to happen.'

But Conservative former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind attacked the 'poor judgment' of the leaders of the rebellion.

'Sometimes it is necessary to split your party on a great issue of principle but to split your party on an issue of tactics seems to me pretty odd,' he told BBC Radio 4.

'What they are doing is putting the Prime Minister in an impossible situation. He cannot simply vote for this amendment because it would split the Coalition down the middle. At the same time, the motion cannot win because there is not a parliamentary majority for it.'